I got a deal on a complete 75 Mustang II front end. Donor was a V8 a/c car. I grabbed the master cylinder and proportioning valve with it. So now I have a couple questions right off the bat. Strut rod mounts. Sway Bar links using Falcon bar. Spring rate-springs have been cut so I'll be getting new ones.Thanks Rich

Here are some before being cut back to install a V6 in a six cylinder Fox. Since the Mustang was sold internationally with a Bristish Cam Gears/Adwest patent power steering rack, this one is actually an SD1 Rover RHD steering rack, same as the Austrailan Cortina. Its shaft is there on the Wrong Side. Or on the Right side, not the Left side....duoh!

The Mustang II IFS X member needs the same kind of work to make frame horns to mount the 200 or 250 I6.

So you have to make perches to forwar mount the stock F150 isolators and mounts Ford used on the Fox i6's.

The Fox was designed to use the Mustang II and Australian Cortina rack and pinion steering made worldwide by Adwest and in USA by TRW. So your I6 has to sit where it does on the stock Fox I6 to suit the Mustang II crossmember.

The upper strut can still be used to hold the stock shock absorbers, you don't have to use the MII ones.Its easier to just copy the Mustang 64 to 73 Mustang II swap details for the Modular Cammer engines. The US aftermarket has got that sorted out. A pre 1967 Modular 5.4 dohc swap uses the Heidts Mustang II IRS, so your better off getting some good Been There, Done that Advice.

The Falcon XK 500 frame is what all that later Mustang 64-73 stuff was based on, so get some advice.

There is lots wrong with the Mustang II stuff, but power rack and pinion is front mounted, the front strut tension rods from the Ford XK 500 platform is best replaced by the Mustang ones.

There's nothing munch good in the early Falcon and pre 1974 Mustang Ford a arm over coil front suspension. Because the steering box is rear mounted,which makes the steering promote roll over steaer and the tension rods cause instabilty and because geometry is pretty archiac, your better off with using as much of the M2 stuff as you can.

This is a major exercise involving removing all the existing front suspension, steering, and much of the shock towers.

The Mustang II front sub-frame assembly complete with suspension, brakes and rack and pinion steering is then positioned in the correct location.

Uprights are welded on to pick up the existing chassis rails and thus attach it to the car. The two big advantages are the conversion to R&P steering, and the big gain in engine bay space, (by removal of the shock towers) giving more room for headers and making spark plug changes so much easier.

This is a total Mustang II Front End Kit, with manual or power rack, tubular upper & lower A-arms, Fully adjustable coil-overs and has the small or big block mounts.

"I did the research & Rod & Customs Motorsports makes the best Mustang II kit out there for early Mustangs. The beauty of this kit is that Rod & Customs Motorsports has been around for a long time and will sell you everything individually if should you ever need replacement parts down the road. They have awesome tech support and you'll be talking to the owner of the company when you call. Also, any headers that will work for a 79-93 Fox Mustang will work with this kit. Same goes for the oil pan. ABSOLUTELY NO CUSTOM HEADERS, OILPAN, OR STEERING COLUMN NEEDED WITH THIS KIT---UNLIKE OTHER MUSTANG II FRONT END CONVERSION KITS. This kit even includes the steel patch panels to cover the holes where the shock towers are removed."

Thanks for the info and pics. I've done a Volare swap into f-100 so nothing really new here. Same types of challenges. I tore down and cleaned the M2 stuff and found a couple issues. I'll be buying tubular upper arms because one of mine is cracked and the bushings were welded in. I guess the previous installer didn't know how to shrink a the bushing holes to tighten them back up. I've done a lot of mocking up measuring and cardboard test fitting so I know where to cut what and how deep. I know I have to modify my 250 oil pan, it seems the easiest will be to cut the bottom of a fox body 302 pan off and meld it to my 250 then fab a rear sump oil pick up. I have the Scarebird set up on the car now that will be going up for sale when I strip the stock suspension off. Anybody interested in the stuff coming off can PM me. I'll let it go cheap just to recoupe some of the cost. The stock stuff is in good shape and includes 64+ mustang UCAs with roller perches, scarebird disc set up, flipped center link. Don't tell my wife but if an affordable 302 becomes available while it'a apart I may go that route. I think running a second exhaust pipe down the driver side would be easier than fabbing the pan and pick up.

The front is near finished as well, needs the upper bag mounts installed as well as the air bags.

It is a Mustang 2 install I have cobbled together from various vendors.

Going to start mocking the 250 in there soon building motor and transmission (T5 from 96 Mustang) mounts and seeing how much I have to modify the oil pan, I think I can move the bottom of the pan up to 3.5" below the block surface and still clear all the rotating parts, it is going to be a tight fit for sure.

I actually have a build thread over on the Comet Central Forum and I can link to it if anyone wants to read it.

Thanks X I'll look up that build thread. Is the Aussie 250 bottom end any different, oil pump location looks to be my challenge. I don't have my pan off yet but the engine is still in place and my frame rails are naked getting prepped for boxing plates. From looking at it the oil pump and R&P might interfere. I'm going to check that before pulling the motor. If they don't jive I'm dropping in a 302 or maybe a 4.6.

cobraguy wrote:Thanks X I'll look up that build thread. Is the Aussie 250 bottom end any different, oil pump location looks to be my challenge. I don't have my pan off yet but the engine is still in place and my frame rails are naked getting prepped for boxing plates. From looking at it the oil pump and R&P might interfere. I'm going to check that before pulling the motor. If they don't jive I'm dropping in a 302 or maybe a 4.6.

No, the Aussie and US 250's are the same, just enough room if you do the sump right.

See the most powerfull 250 turbo dyno tested on the Classic Inlines page...Bold and underlined accents mine...

fast64ranchero wrote:Will I did that last saturday night, it was fun, the car looks like a beater really makes for a nice sleeper, Had lots of people looking at it and shaking there heads....82F100 not sure what pics you want, most are already on this forum somewheremotor with the TKO 5spif I only could have kept it all under the hood!!!!

fast64ranchero wrote:Well I haven't said much in here in some time, and some of you might remember my project that has turned into two year, for the rest of you here's the short version, 250 offset ground crand to 4.125" block bored to .037 over, Manley rods, CP pistons, Clay Smith custom turbo cam, Turbonetics 62-1 turbo, now if I can get the pictures loaded on here you all can see it mated to its tranny (TKO 500) if all goes well it's going in my Fairmont this weekend [/img]

and yes I do have one of Mikes heads, but no intake so my mill'd head will have to do for now

I can send you some parts, but my kit uses the Aussie X-series engine mounts on an engine that is an inch narrower than the US 250, and the sumps are not the same. The Aussie block is half US 250, half US 200, so little that fits a Aussie 250 into a Fox body will benefit a US 250 Fox.

Sump needs to be custom modified to become a 200 sump at the bottom, and you need to copy the pickup shape. At worst, you can go nuckin futs with a MIG welder, and you'll get a result that will work.

Or you can do a little more networking. The oil pumps aren't the same. What Ford US did when the 250 came out, they dropped the oil pump down the stroke throw length increase 0.392"), which is why the 5/16" oil pump from cam drive shaft is so much longer on a 250.

Mikes looks great. The alternative is to cut and shut the Maverick sump like Jack Collins did.

If you are going to run a stock fan, it needs to be reduced in diameter from the stock size by more than 0.833 inches, as the water pump is up 1.666". It will touch the hood otherwise.

A Mercury Capri hood or tall Mustang hood blister will give you space to fit the carb under the hood. The 250 engine also sits a little taller as the engine mounts are splayed out at 11" center to center from the 9-1/8" wide 200 block.

Mike 1157 just solid mounted his.

You can use the Taurus or later SN95 fan system and water bottle recovery.

When Ford moved from the X shell to the Pinto/Mustang II and then to the Fox platform (the S shell from 1982 onwards), they used the smae hard dimensions from the 1966 Falcon /Fairlane/Mustang revision.

The rack and pinion steering gear was British, and front mounted. The Chassis spacing between toe board and steering and the front wheels was varied by aout 4", with the Pinto/MustangII and Fox all shorterned between the A pillar and the front axle center line.

When blending in the Mustang II or Fox IFS into any X shell, the engine mounts can be pushed right back this much from the stock V8/4 and V6 cylinder positions. Thats 4" or so. This means a stock Fox crossmenber for an I4, V8, or V6 can be used to hold the Small six, without having to move the engine mounts forward

In fact, the narrower 79 to 93 Mustang spring towers can be welded in, along with the cross member.

Here's a 68 Torino (a 1966 Failane/Falcon underneath) with the 2004 SN 95 spring towers moved inwards with Maximim Motors narrow 78-86 Fox and 79-93 Mustang upper links, the narrow track size. The spring towers would weld in to an early Falcon, allowing the upper spring tower braces to be removed.

Good info xctasy, curious if anyone has pictures showing the difference of the inline 6 cylinder crossmember compared to the V8 or inline 4?

A bad day Drag Racing is still better than a good day at work!

I am still hunting for a project car to build but with my current low budget it's not looking so good. My Ex- Fleet of Sixes these are all long gone! 1954 Customline 223 3 speed with O/D, 1963 Fairlane project drag car with BB6, 1977 Maverick 250 with C4, 1994 F-150 a 300 with 5 speed.

Yeah, its 4-1/8 " uniform forward in the Foxes for the I6. Or "about" one bore spacing of 4.08" I believe.

The second to third from front frsot "welch" plugs show the difference between the 200 and 250, but you have to measure back to the bellhousing mounting flange to get it exactly.

The I6 block to V8 mount centriod is about 4-1/8", or so generally. Any Fox I6 to Fox V8 comparison shows the distance. The Australian engine mount was devised to stop the engine falling on the road in billobong or washout ridden roads in Australia. It was not uncommon to find foot deep trenches in areas of yumps or arond corners. Ford decided they were going V8, but they decided to repostionthe engine mounts back to the V8 position. The engine mounts generally are a straight measure off the transfer lugs. Grab a SBF, and any small I6, and you can work out the spacing difference. The US scenario was quite different to the Aussie V8/I6 common mounting pads on the cross member. Although very similar, the US small six was downgraded untill the US 250 forced CenterPercussion engine mounts, but not evey small six got them, so they vary quite markedly.

Update: I have the boxing plates made and the driver side is boxed. I'm doing this install at an adult ed night course so I only get to work on it Monday and Wednesday nights 6-9. The school has all the fun toys so the trade off is worth it. I also can easily figure how many hours went into the swap. I got a bunch of new parts for my birthday, manual rack, tubular UCAs, springs, 2" drop spindles, steering shaft and u-joints. Shameless plug to SAE Speed in Corona Ca.

Happy New Year all. I got it finished up and have just been lazy with an update. This has been a challenging project to say the least and it tested my skill and perseverance many times. I can now say it was worth every minute of time, drop of blood shed and cuss word muttered. It actually goes straight all the time regardless of bumps, dips, seams, braking, or accelerating. The steering isn't too hard to want power steering even when stopped. The feel is crisp and predictable.Things I learned along the way. If you are running stock 14" steel wheels you can't use 2" drop spindles, the rim will hit the lower ball joint and stock studs are too short to use wheel spacers. I am not running a front sway bar and don't notice any extra body roll.

I discovered an unexpected benefit to the Mustang II install. I have picked up 1mpg consistently since the install. I guess dragging the front tires sideways everywhere (toe changes as ride height changes) is not conducive to good gas mileage.

I am still hunting for a project car to build but with my current low budget it's not looking so good. My Ex- Fleet of Sixes these are all long gone! 1954 Customline 223 3 speed with O/D, 1963 Fairlane project drag car with BB6, 1977 Maverick 250 with C4, 1994 F-150 a 300 with 5 speed.